Chapter 573 - Bunbun!

Eric woke up with the first rays of dawn caressing his cheek. He couldn’t say why, as he slipped free of snug comforter and sheet, but he just knew, somehow, that it was going to be a wonderful day.

That’s when he realized it, gazing wide-eyed at a very much slept on bed. “Wait, I didn’t need to sleep on the air above… I sunk right into my comforter and pillow, and it’s still intact. Everything’s still intact!”

He couldn’t help but smile, wondering if this was the first step to an instinctive care that might one day see him safely raising a family of his own without ever having to fear that a single startled response, a single bad dream, could turn precious beauty into tragedy.

Then he winced, realizing what the dawn signified, dressing himself in a simple hemp robe after quickly refreshing himself. Then it was darting down the stairs as fast as any teenager pressed for time and striding through the garden sanctuary that was actually a cleverly constructed formation made out of fruit bearing trees and fragrant flowers and never had he felt the spiritual energy washing over everything so completely as he did right at that moment, dropping into dogeza before his smiling mentor.

“Good morning, Sifu.”

Hanna’s sickly grey features brightened at his presence. “Eric. You made it! I knew you would.”

“It’s mom, Eric. Since we’re family,” Louise declared.

Sophia, also present and dressed in blue cultivation robes of finest silk, dipped her head. “A proper greeting to your master. Not quite so hopeless as one might fear of a netherworld faerie.”

Eric couldn’t help smirking at that, even as he genuflected before Evelyn Kahn’s direct descendant. “A fair morning to you as well, Lady Kahn.” He then winked at his foster sister. “How’s it going, short stuff?”

This earned a look of supreme outrage. “I’m not short!” Louise huffed. “I’m almost as tall as you are, brother.”

Eric winked. “Maybe. But you’ll never be as big as these guns!” He let his loosely fitted robe flow down to his torso and flexed his arms and chest, savoring her look of outrage.

Before presenting himself before his bemused and still too pale foster mother once more, robe secured before a single complaint could slip free of smirking lips.

“Did you sleep well, Sifu? Can I prepare you tea before we begin today’s lesson?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No, dear. Far better you take slow deep breaths as I taught you and relax your mind. Let your awareness flow through the garden, just as you had before. See if you can sense the interconnections between our physical bodies, our spiritual selves, and the constant stream of life and Spiritual Energy that is the cycle of our existence. Just as you had before.

Eric was pleased to sense his foster family open themselves to him, just as naturally as they had before. Eric closed his eyes and gently clasped both his awareness of the pulsing flow of Qi through Hanna… and the precious, fragile soul of his sister. Yet he found himself so surprised by the fierce energy and sheer brightness that Louise now projected that he almost overlooked two new additions to his mindscape.

One was the blazing silver eye upon the brow of Sophia Kahn. A third eye he only noted now, wide open and somehow gazing right at his soul self as he protectively held Louise close against the buffeting stream of Spiritual Energy.

For a moment, he feared he’d bear the brunt of sudden outrage and hostility… but Sophia did absolutely nothing but observe.

And only then did Eric truly appreciate what he was doing. What he was seeing.

He had never sensed the swirling flow of Qi quite so viscerally. He had never secured Louise quite so firmly as he did now. And he had never sensed Hanna so clearly. Flaring so brilliantly to his minds eye. And perhaps most importantly, peripheral meridians that had seemed so ephemeral, so utterly beyond him, just two days before…

He now saw as clear as day.

Congratulations! Unified Perception is now Rank 25!

He took a shuddering breath, demanding that his heart rate slow to calm tranquility, no matter his excitement. With almost dreamlike wonder, he gently directed the hairlike strands of his peripherals to flow towards the sliver of space and time that was now so rich with Qi, frustrated for long moments when it didn’t seem to work. Not quite.

Not until he envisioned them somehow mirroring a kraken’s limbs undulating in deep sea currents.

Limbs he slowly compelled to undulate through unfathomable seas until finally immersing themselves in the sliver of 3-D spacetime that was their own, having successfully dragged no less than six of those peripherals that were now eagerly drinking in such a concentrated flow of Wind aligned Spiritual energy. Wind, dragging along the damp moisture of rain that would hit them all within minutes, so rich with the pollen and sheer life of Wood Qi that was Hanna’s garden, the sun’s Fire giving pungeant life so rich with Earth’s bounty and copper, iron and other vital minerals so conducive to life itself.

He shuddered with joy and wonder that was made all the greater when he sensed his sister’s shocked cry. But he didn’t break his hold. Didn’t dare to. His peripherals so gently embracing her own, not letting a single one go until the withered strands inflated like balloons. Tiny traces of crud easily broken free as beautiful currents infused with a mother’s love infused them both in turn, and their peripherals glowed with health. A full half dozen as time flew by without meaning until the garden’s now sluggish currents shifted along different tributaries, perhaps perfect for a cultivator that followed an entirely different path from Hanna.

A soul they might never meet, Eric thought with a melancholy sort of wonder as he gently clasped his sister kraken’s saturated limbs and pulled them both from the depths of the Black Sea and into the light and life of the waters they knew so very well.

“Mom! I did it! Eric helped me break through!”

Eric opened his eyes to Louise laughing and crying in her mother’s arms.

And all but glowing with health, Vitality, and awoken Spiritual Energy.

And Eric wasn’t immune to the joy he felt in his heart to hear his sister’s joyful laughter, eyes filled with wonder, as Hanna sobbed and held her so close.

Nor was he blind to the sight of John gazing at them all from the kitchen balcony, actually saluting Eric with his cup of coffee, a tear in his eye. Why, Eric had no idea. Yet the fierce, protective father’s love that the man was radiating was as humbling as it was undeniable.

Eric blinked back the hot sting in his own eyes even as his interface flooded with messages that filled him with joy.

But no joy so great as the fragile slip of possibility he sensed, just a short distance away.

Close as a dream.

And if he dared blink or look away… it would be gone forever.

The beautiful memory of a cute little rabbit, gazing at him with sky blue eyes… about to sink into shadow forever.

Sad eyes that understood that now just wasn’t the right time. That the boy striving for fearsome triumph didn’t need to be burdened by an eccentricity that didn’t even belong—

“Bunbun! You’re here!”

He felt Sophia’s eyes burning into his back. Knew he didn’t dare show off any more than he already had.

Even as he sensed his familiar’s fragile soul stretching, a silent scream as she dared to propel a tiny fragment of her soul that she would never dare again. And she’d be okay. She’d forgive him. It was just that this world wasn’t a good fit, and she was just a fragile little rabbit. Just the memory of a—

“The hell with it!”

Speed Racer in Effect! You’ve dashed forward at Mach 6.0!

Sophia Kahn has learned one of your secrets!

You have found your familiar!

“Bun!”

Eric glared at the hungry shadows trying to claim his familiar. Oddly multidimensional shadows that already had claimed the tiny figment that dared to think it could be anything more than a flicker of a dream. Shadows already impossibly far away.

“Eric?”

Eric glared at the darkness, arms blazing with fire that had once destroyed worlds.

“I got you, Bun! I’m RIGHT HERE!”

You have INFUSED the immediate area with the Essence of Your Dominion!

Willpower Check: Success! Reality bends to your will!

WARNING! This is not the planet of your birth.

At least one Inquisitor has witnessed you embrace a Contender’s gifts!

Eric heard the words and he didn’t give a fuck.

Not as tears streamed down his cheeks.

Not as he held his precious familiar close.

“Bun! You made it! I knew you’d make it! You’re here! Fuck it, you’re finally here!”

His breath hitched in his throat as he gazed down at the cute little rabbit twitching her nose, gazing so intently back at him.

“You know those cultivators saw everything we just did, right?”

Eric couldn’t help it. He laughed with relief. “Who cares? You’re fucking here!”

“That’s right! Just remember, I’m not actually your familiar, right now.”

Eric’s heart twisted in knots. “Bunbun… what do you—”

“I’m your bonded spirit beast.” She winked. “Kind of fragile, right now. So be careful, fearless leader! But if you check real carefully… and if we don’t take steps, I’ll be goner in about 30 seconds, so… you know!”

Unified Perception Check: Critical Success! You have successfully bonded a Spirit Beast using nothing but memories of a previous life you skillfully imprinted upon her mind! This creature is of course natural and native to this world, and lacks any and all traces of Necromantic energy!

Qi Perception Check: Success! You sense the spirit core within your familiar!

Your Bonded Spirit Beast is offering you a Soul Contract!

Warning! You have no idea what this Soul Contract Entails!

You have no idea what the benefits to this Soul Contract might be!

Prudence dictates that—you have AGREED to the Soul Contract!

“Eric, be careful! That’s a spirit—” Hanna’s anxious words cut off.

Sophia Kahn was giving him the strangest look.

Louise laughed. “Mom! Did Eric just put that spirit beast on his head?”

“Apparently so, dear.”

“Um… why?”

Sophia pinned Eric with her gimlet gaze. “I think your disciple has a lot of explaining to do, Hanna.”

Hanna, sickly pale or no, crossed her arms, glaring at her friend. “My son, Sophia.”

Louise, eyes still filled with wonder, now all but glowing with spiritual energy, approached Eric with a vulnerable look in her eyes.

“Eric? Um…”

Eric winked. “How you doing, sis?”

Louise’s smile stretched wide. “I’m doing incredible, Eric! I feel so giddy and full of life, like I could burst! And we’ve spent three hours cultivating and I’m just tingling with Spiritual Energy because I cracked open a half dozen peripherals and…” She swallowed, gazing so intently at him. “I felt like you were somehow holding my hand and helping me the whole time, even if Sophia assures me it was all me.” She bit her lip. “I know that probably doesn’t make sense, but...”

“Oh it makes perfect sense!” Declared the bunny on his head. “His peripherals were securing your own poor floppy little things, flapping in the muck with no Qi currents at all. But since my master’s great at seeing things like that and has a major hero complex, of course he helped you out!”

All the girls in the garden froze. Eric winced at the sudden sharp tension he felt, sensing the buildup of Qi along Sophia’s crackling limbs.

“It talks!”

“Of course I talk! I’m a properly bonded spirit beast! My master’s friend and ally in all things. The cheeky sidekick you always wanted and didn’t even know you needed.” The bunny on Eric’s head quipped, before flowing into a bow.

“Bunbun at your service! Or you can call me Bunz. Or Lilly. And that won’t cause any confusion at all in this world, so whatever you like, really.”

Hanna gazed at Bunz with the wonder of a child. “Oh she talks. And she’s sassy!” She chuckled throatily. “She’s the perfect companion for you, Eric.”

Tentatively she approached, shaking off Sophia’s gentle hand upon her shoulder.

“Sister, we don’t actually know that—”

“Nonsense.” Hanna looked right at Eric. “Is your beautiful bonded spirit familiar any threat to me?”

Eric solemnly shook his head. “Not a chance in hell, mom. I’d trust her with my life.”

Hanna blinked at those words. Eric felt his cheeks grow warm, even as Louise hugged him tightly.

“Thank you, Eric. Whatever you did… waking me up, somehow. Helping me to see what’s right in front of me… thank you!”

Eric gently kissed Louise’s forehead. “Any time, little sis.”

This earned a snort. “You had to flex on your tippy toes to peck my head. Because I really am almost as tall as you.”

Eric winked. “Lies.”

Bunbun chucked, but happily hopped into Hanna’s hands, and purred when Hanna gently rubbed her belly.

“Oh my. She purrs! Do rabbits normally do that?”

“No,” Sophia curtly said, shaking her head. “No, they do not.”

Eric winked. “Somehow, I think my spirit beast companion… who I’m just going to call my familiar, can purr as much as she likes.”

“And I can talk, too!” Bun cheekily said. Before blinking, gazing pointedly right at Sophia, before turning to lock gazes with Eric.

“Eric…”

“Yeah, I know, Bun.”

“Does she even know?”

Eric shrugged.

Sophia’s stare grew pointed. “Eric Carpenter…”

Bunbun smirked and continued to purr when Eric gently reclaimed her and put his rabbit back on his head.

“So, when’s breakfast?”

Sophia glared a the rabbit. “That’s no normal rabbit.”

“No kidding!” Bun quipped.

“Or spirit beast.”

Bunbun whistled innocently.

Hanna laughed. “Oh, she’s absolutely adorable!”

“Yes, I am,” Bun gloated. “Velvety soft fur, beautiful blue eyes without a trace of crimson in them. I’m perfect! Right, Fearless Leader?”

“Right, Bunz.” Eric’s smirk turned to a grimace. “Is it just my imagination or did we spend all morning cultivating?”

He blinked in surprise when Hanna wrapped her arms tightly around him. “Don’t think I don’t know, Eric.”

He winced, dreading those words. “Do I want to know what I should think you don’t know?”

Hanna chuckled warmly. “Six peripherals opened in a single morning. The greatest gift you could have given my daughter.”

Louise, still teary eyed with joy, laughed with the sheer wonder of it all. “And I felt Eric somehow carrying me in his arms. Spiritually, I mean.” She flushed at the pointed look Sophia was now giving her. “But you’re much more awesome than my silly dorky brother, Sifu. I think we should get to cultivating, don’t you?”

She blinked when Sophia slowly shook her head, scowl turning to a gentle smile. “No, darling. You’ve had a remarkable breakthrough, today. Peripherals may not be a core discipline, though some would argue that they should be. Regardless, after clearing even one… the wise cultivator spends a day in peaceful meditation, consolidating their gains and getting all they can out of their breakthrough. And you, child, managed to cleanse and bring a full half dozen to full saturation, now matching the tempo of your cleared Dragon Gate, the ebb and flow of your Qi tide forever linked to your peripherals as well as your major meridians.”

Louise blinked, struck by the solemn intensity of her mentor’s gaze. “I will meditate on my gains at once, Sifu.” She then turned to Eric, biting her lip. “Brother…”

Eric chuckled rubbing mussing her hair with a grin. “I, on the other hand, have a finance class I absolutely do not want to miss today, so… yeah. I’m off. Laters, all!”

“Eric…”

“Let him go, sister. He knows himself at least as well as we do.” Hanna chuckled in the rapidly growing distance as Eric’s hasty walk to the rear of the house became a mad sprint upstairs, then the careful opening of his sliding glass window and gathering of all his school supplies before storing all his school clothes in his ES space and leaving the way he came, wearing only his bluejeans.

Before shifting his personal reference and racing straight up until he felt howling currents of Qi pressing against him… before leveling off and racing for the city at full speed.

Still hearing the conversation in the back of his skull as Bunbun cackled with glee on top of his head.

“Eric’s proving himself to be a most remarkable student.”

“Yes, that darling boy most certainly is. I could tell he broke through as well, and he’s off. Like he feels no need to consolidate his gains or reflect on his remarkable achievement. And the gift he’s given Louise…”

“Priceless. I know. I can think of only one possible explanation for a feat even my master would find hard to replicate in even the most gifted disciple...”

Hanna laughed. “Eric certainly is a treasure. And the love he shows my girls truly is his greatest strength, sister of my heart.”

Bunbun cackled merrily. “Oh, I missed Speed Racer, Fearless Leader. And I can’t tell you how good it is to be back!”

“I feel the same, Buns!” Eric was filled with a sense of near euphoric triumph with his latest miraculous breakthrough, six more peripherals now forever happily linked to the ebb and flow of his Qi, clean and vibrant and granting him a total Qi Pool of 1483 with a baseline 123 Spiritual Energy.

“Half a dozen peripherals cleared, and I know it’s at least partly from observing Osirian invoke that ritual involving space and vastness and alien squiggly tentacles and eyeballs and all those powerful cultivators infecting themselves with hideous Cthulian strength, thinking they can maintain their humanity by shoving their alien bits into alternate slices of their 4-D whole while keeping their 3-D human slivers front and center.”

“I know! Fuckin’ epic! You just know Grim would commend their daring.”

Eric nodded. Then froze. “Wait, you know?”

His familiar bent over his forehead, looking him dead in the eye.

“Duude.”

“What?”

“Of course I know!”

Eric blinked as he zipped into the city, dozens of massive glass, chrome, and steel megaliths flickering by before he came to an immediate stop right over his school, half a mile straight down.

“What do you mean, of course you know?” he said as he summoned his school uniform, leather case in hand, bunny on head, and dove straight down to the ground at Mach 5. So as not to break a sweat or ruffle his clothes, like he would at Mach 6.

“Dude, what do you think opening yourself to that Soul Contract was? I get all your memories as if I was right there by your side, and my health pool is linked to your own! Even if you um…”

“Yes?”

“Even if it cost you 10 Soul Points? Please don’t hate me!”

Eric laughed. “I have over 46,000 Hit Points. Of course I’m going to share with my Bunz. And have you checked out my Physical Resistance?” he reassured, petting his bunny on her quivering ears as he hovered right over the windows in the hallway facing his class door.

Bunbun whistled. “It’s over 1,600! I have no words, Eric. Just… you could charge into a dreadnought at sublight speed and it would do nothing! Only thing is, at that velocity, is it matter or energy? And with Elemental Resistance at 941, it really doesn’t matter!”

Eric flashed a smug smile. “True. But Transcendent attacks, or hell, any Essence attacks will still do very bad things to me, since I haven’t the faintest idea how to infuse the essence of Dominion or Resilience… or Fire into strengthening my body. I’m betting that’s super elite high level cultivator hidden technique shit that I sure won’t get any access to, down here.”

Bunbun sighed and nodded. “So we gotta play nice, kiss butt, and figure out how to ooze into the graces of the true powers up above.”

“Yup! But probably not until the gauntlet starts. In the meantime, we’re having fun down here. And I’m late to class. Again. Fuck.”

He glared at the window latch, contemplated flexing his Dominion, but instead settled for Blood Mastery, a stream of crimson flowing from his fingers to pop the latch, and then a gust of wind from inside the hallway blowing open the window much as the stompers had the other day, and he was through.

He pretended not to hear the gasps from a handful of students on the far end of the hall as he approached the classroom double doors and, with just the tiniest bit of his Strength, opened the door and gave a startled-looking Professor Klein a friendly wave while proceeding to his seat.

The class went dead silent.

“Mr. Carpenter.”

“Professor Klein!”

“I can’t help but note that you are late, Mr. Carpenter. Again. And the door was...” His eyes widened. “And you appear to have a rabbit on your head.”

Bunbun waved. “Hello, peeps! Name’s Bunz! Don’t mind me, just a friendly bonded spirit beast. Highland Inquisitor approved!”

Eric looked up at his familiar smiling down from his head. “How do you figure? And I thought we were going to keep it on the down-low?”

“Well, Sophia was staring at me the whole time, and she stopped freaking out when Hanna started petting me, so… yeah. I declare it all good. And besides, how down-low can we be, if I’m on your head? You know I’m not good at shutting up. That’s boring!” Her smirk turned to a worried frown. “You’re not going to put me in some sort of awful cage, are you?”

Eric shuddered. “Of course not. You belong on my head. Where else would you be?”

“On your shoulder, sometimes.”

Eric nodded. “Also fair.” He then turned his focus back on his flummoxed teacher, ignoring the frantic whispers now filling the class. “My apologies, professor. I had something of a breakthrough, this morning. My understanding is that allowances are made for that sort of thing?”

Klein blinked, then embraced his favorite coping mechanism of tuning Eric the fuck out.

“And now, class, if there are no further ‘pressing matters,’ let us proceed to the local branch of the Jade Emporium, where you will be permitted to purchase whatever tools or treasures you wish on our school account, with the understanding that there will be a 5% remuneration fee on behalf of Westwind, for extending this priceless service to you and your clan.”

A hand immediately shot up.

“Yes, Chevrain?”

“Will we be given the opportunity to access the consortium again at a later date?”

Professor Klein dipped his head. “Of course. Rest assured, we here at Westwind understand just how vital an opportunity this is, both for future entrepreneurs, and for the clans that sponsor them. A select handful of students will be permitted to return on a weekly basis.”

“Thank you, professor.”

“Of course. If there is nothing else… yes, Liu?”

“Why does the Carpenter boy have a rabbit on his head?”

“It’s a talking spirit beast! Those things are priceless!” Declared another boy, earning Klein’s glare for speaking out of turn.

“Will it even be allowed in Jade Emporium?” Queried another.

Klein sighed, gathering his leather satchel. “Now, if there are no more questions germane to our expedition today… let us be off.”

“Professor Klein, the door’s broken again!”

A vein began to pulse at the man’s temple. “You can open the door, yes, Hanz? Good. Then please step through. Don’t hold up the class.”

“Eric, wait up!”

Eric smiled and slowed his pace. “Hey, beautiful. What’s up?”

Rachel snorted at that. “Business partner, remember? And I just wanted to let you know that it went even better than I thought it would!”

Eric blinked at that. “I’m sorry… what went better than you thought it would?”

“Our photo shoot!”

Eric suppressed a wince. “Oh, that. Cool.”

She gave him a hurt look. “Aren’t you excited? You need to see the billboards. You look epic, Eric. Trust me!”

Eric forced a chuckle. “Sorry. That photo shoot was just a bit intense, the way they kept shifting my pose and telling me to basically make love to the camera.”

For some reason Rachel laughed while the wind blew her locks of glossy dark hair, the sun lighting a sparkle in both ear, nose, and horn rings. Her ruby lips favored him with a teasing smile. “Those aren’t the pics that are going to make us a fortune, Eric,” she enthused as they all ascended the elevated tram’s steps.

“No?”

She shook her head. “It’s the special effects ones.” Her eyes all but glowed with passion. “The test groups made it clear that they’re our winners, and I don’t even remember making them!” She gave a worried laugh. “Just how drunk did you get me that night, Eric, with me completely blacking out?”

Eric forced a chuckle. “Not me, Rachel. I hardly drink. Ooh, come on. This is our stop.”

For some reason Rachel pouted when they all filed out of the elevated line, a warm hand somehow entwining with his own.

Eric blinked at that. “Rachel, I thought—”

“Shut up and hold my hand, business partner. And maybe you can tell me why you have a bunny on your head?”

“Name’s Buns, sweety! Oh, don’t flinch. You almost leaped into traffic! Good thing my man’s got you secure in his grip. Isn’t he handsome? Yup. Eric’s the best. You really should snatch him up while you have the chance.”

Bun’s quip made Rachel blush.

“I bonded with her this morning,” Eric quietly explained, earning an awed look.

“So, she really is a spirit beast. And you bonded with her.” She swallowed. “But I thought only cultivators could bond with spirit beasts?”

Bunbun laughed. “Well, obviously!”

“But Eric… Eric’s from the underworld, right?”

Bunbun nodded. “Of course he is.”

“But underworlders can’t cultivate.”

Bunbun gave her a curious look. “Says who?”

Rachel blinked at this “I… well, isn’t it just one of those things that everyone knows? Common sense?”

This earned a snort. “And yet here you are, talking to moi, obvious spirit beast, clearly bonded, happily perched on my master’s head.”

Rachel blinked. “That’s true. But that means—”

Her voice cut off.

“Rachel?”

Rachel just stared as they rapidly approached the marble steps leading to a massive taj mahal-sized edifice with ivory white pillars supporting a massive dome that glittered like gold, the entire structure radiating protective wards and surprisingly intense Spiritual Energy, powerful enough for even the mortals among them to gaze slack-jawed at the structure before them.

“Oh wow, legendary!” Bunbun squealed. “I can’t wait for us to set up an account!”

Eric grinned. “It is pretty epic looking. Reminds me of Blue Palace.”

“Only this looks even grander! There are spirit stone inlays and golden glyphs all over the grounds, here.”

Eric smiled, taking in what at first appeared to be abstract glyphs and designs of silver inlaid into the marble covered grounds surrounding the eye-catching structure, but was, in fact, a formation so resilient that Eric doubted the Jade Emporium would decay for millennia. At least.

“It is pretty striking, isn’t it? But no need to tell Caliban that.” He then turned to Rachel. “Why are you trembling?”

Eric’s brow grew more furrowed when the entire class abruptly froze in their tracks, just feet before the massive double doors of enchanted bronze before the entrance. Even Professor Klein had stiffened and paled.

Eric frowned as he glanced back at the sight of professor and several score students falling to their knees.

“Professor?”

Klein’s eyes widened in horror. “Kowtow immediately, fool!”

But Eric was already flowing into a bow on pure instinct, which came naturally enough and allowed him to show respect without debasing himself for the pleasure of some asshole. As to whether any more respect needed be shown…

His thoughts roared at full speed as he took in his environment, turning around at mortal speed but thinking at his true maximum as he noted the imperious-looking jade beauty floating down from the heavens in hanfu robes the color of a winter storm, as diaphanous as a dream.

Cold eyes of softest lilac gazed contemptuously down upon a trembling Klein, his kowtowing students, and the single outlander who dared to simply bow.

Then Eric felt it. The crushing weight of a Silver’s killing aura.