Growing Pains 309 Book 2 Chapter 3 (Patreon)

We spent the next six months making preparations. I was merciless in trying to recruit Cultivators from Four Element Sect and the other Baronies on the island. The Sect had its hand full trying to contain and destroy the Magma Krakens I had reported, so my actions went mostly unnoticed.

We did get a new influx of immigrants as people near Mount Kraken fled the territory in droves. We could have placed the Kingdom stone and claimed our sovereignty earlier, but Clement thought it more advantageous to wait until the Sect had dealt with what was lurking under that mountain.

If I had claimed our independence beforehand, then I would have been responsible for rooting out and destroying the larger and more advanced Magma Krakens the Sect discovered, as it laid waste to the caves and lava flow tubes.

It was a good thing I had decided to wait. Deep within one of the larger lava pools was a tier-five behemoth. Tier five was comparable to an Immortal Realm Cultivator. Clement might have been able to defend against the Leviathan, but his elemental affinities would have been of little help.

Even the Sect, with a pool of individuals and aligned affinities to draw upon, had only managed to defeat the creature after days of battle. It had become a test of stamina and determination, and it was only because the Sect was able to rotate Cultivators in and out of a battle that they won in the end.

The Magma Kraken had been able to use the lava it was resting in to heal, to restore any wounds it was taken. It was only after earth affinity Cultivators diverted the lava pool and denied the Kraken access that the fight finally reached a conclusion.

The Sect’s gains from rooting out and destroying the infestation were impressive. A few natural treasures and those individuals that were aligned with fire or earth were able to watch and learn how the Magma Kraken had used lava to heal. For a few, they gained enough enlightenment that they were able to create a new technique that would mimic what they had seen.

The most impressive natural treasure was a fire opal cluster. The gems were carefully excavated as the Cultivators responsible worked to keep them in the exact position they were in. The fire opals had formed a natural array, and the Sect planned on adding the benefits of that array to both the defenses of the Sect and the closed-door cultivation chambers.

“Are you ready?” Gwen asked.

Gwen had been with me from day one. My longest-serving adviser, and only now that she’d been given the Lodoicea laced food a Cultivator. That she would be present when I placed the capstone that would establish my Kingdom was fitting. 

“I believe so,” I answered with some confidence.

“Alpha and the applicants that might fit as a [Dao Companion] have gathered. We have restricted attendance as you requested. Only Clement and I will witness what happens today.”

Technically that wasn’t true. Toi and Storm would serve as witnesses too. The astral bond and companion bond that existed between us was too enmeshed into our psyche to try to block access to our experiences.

I could have requested privacy, and they would have agreed. But what would be the point? The three of us would be a team, a collective of identities that had already coalesced into a synergistic whole.

Alpha had explained that for me to be elevated to the position of Voice with the rights of sovereignty that position allowed, I would need to join the Hindel gestalt. I had spoken with almost a hundred Hindel to try to find someone I felt might be compatible. Someone who had an elemental affinity that would buttress my own.

If the Hindel I formed a dual cultivation with would gain access to my ice and lightning affinity, I wanted something in exchange. Things might have been simpler if that had been my only criteria, but I had also been adamant that the person be female. 

There would be no chance for a sexual relationship, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t be spending time together. I just felt it would be easier to adapt to each other’s idiosyncrasies if we both shared the same gender.

Cien, the young Hindel woman I had finally settled on, had an affinity with life. She focused mostly on maintaining fisheries for her pod, but her talent was robust enough that she could serve as a healer in an emergency as well as cultivate crops.

I hoped to gain enough insight from her cultivation to take better control and maintenance for the inner world I owned. It would also be profitable if I could create a technique that increased the growth of coral and the number of spiders we were farming.

I had to chuckle to myself when I considered what the results of today’s events would be. I had gone from a woman who had been abandoned and ignored by her children for the most part to a young Elf ostracized and vilified in Flowing Water Sect.

I had been alone and a loner, but that, as well as so many other things, had changed over the past five years. The connections that I had formed seemed to just add up as each year passed.

First, my bond with Storm.

Then my connection to the land.

The establishment of my Barony.

Next, my discovery and formation of a contract with Toi.

And today would see three new connections formed. I would be added as a Voice to the Hindel gestalt of minds. Form a dual cultivation with Cien. And elevate my ties to the land to encompass the entire island.

I would be severing any tenuous connection that might exist between the Empire and me. But that connection had barely existed since the machinations of people to try to deny the Hindel and me our due from the planar dimension we had discovered.

I hoped to remain on friendly terms with Four Element Sect. But I wasn’t sure how today’s action would play out with the Patriarch. I had decided not to inform her or the Sect ahead of time about what was happening today, mainly because I didn’t want to give any warning to the Empire, and I was confident the Patriarch would have been honor bound to report my decision to form a new Kingdom.

Even if today’s events didn’t threaten the already strained relationship that existed between the Sect and me, that might change in the years to come. I would be granting land grants to allow new Sects to form. If my nation was going to be independent, I couldn’t rely on the monopoly the Four Element Sect enjoyed as the only Sect to offer membership.

For some, the ties that bound me might have seemed oppressive. But for me, I considered the chains of duty, companionship, and partnership that enveloped me as armor. Layers of protection and defense I could rely on as Fief Myche expanded.