But this new node and lines are not enough for Jason. He can tell that even though they look like the rest of them, they aren’t. Instead of stopping there and congratulating himself, Jason repeats the process, taking apart the node and nearby threads before putting it back together. This is repeated over and over until Jason is satisfied that to his current sense the new node and lines are the same as the others in his body.

Jason stands up and stretches before checking the time. ‘Huh, that took longer than I thought. Guess it’s dinnertime. Definitely not enough time to do any extreme changes.’

Jason leaves his room and joins the others out in the den. Courtney is still meditating on the candle. Rosha is sprawled out on one of the beanbags, napping. Peter and Gregor are sitting together, though when Jason enters Gregor gets up and goes to the kitchen.

Jason nods at the others while joining them in sitting down. From the kitchen Gregor calls out, “Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

Peter leans back and turns his head towards Jason, “So, how did your training go?”

Jason sighs, “I spent the entire time taking care of some problems I had left on the back burner till now. Now, I did get to the bottom of what I needed for the skill, but there is more to do.”

Peter tilts his head to the side, “I don’t think you had any internal injuries?”

Jason shrugs, “It has to do with my internal structure and my cultivation.”

Peter raises an eyebrow, “Did you fall for one of the scams that tries to explain away some System based nonsense or another?”

Jason shakes his head, “If I fell for some scam or another it was of my own making and the System recognizes it for me.” He holds up his pinky, “I was testing something while still in the forest. Accidentally messed up a line in my pinky. Put a stopgap measure in and like most temporary fixes, it became more permanent than it should have been. Anyway, long story short, I spun things back into place and everything is fine now. Though of course I can’t leave well enough alone, so I have plans to mess with it more later.”

Peter closes his eyes and sighs, “You travellers lack respect for your own body. Death might not be the end for you, but what about permanent damage? Messing with the lines? I don’t want to know more, but if you mean what I think you mean, that is messing with System stuff.”

Jason shrugs again, “I have a plan.”

Peter shakes his head, “Well, I can’t stop you. Just don’t bleed all over the bed or something.”

Jason laughs, Peter laughs, they can hear Gregor laughing in the kitchen. Then Gregor sticks his head into the den room, “And by that he means don’t bleed on the bed when messing with the System. Normally magic makes it easy enough to clean up nearly anything. When you mess with the System though, it likes to leave behind reminders to not do that.”

“Oh, and once dinner is ready, let me take a look at your pinky. Peter there might not want to touch anything System related. Not that I blame him, mind you. My husband hasn’t exactly had luck when dealing with the System as you personally experienced. I do not have as much of a hang up over it.”

With that, the den settles into an easy silence. Jason uses the time to take another look inside, finding nothing out of place. Though Peter’s words tickle his mind. He hadn’t been planning on doing much more with his lines. But they are the System’s lines. More literally than he would like. Throughout his whole body a system of lines that aren’t actually his. What would happen if, for instance, he just happened to replace all the lines with his own Energy? What if he ripped out all the Systems lines and before the System decided he was dead, his core’s Energy replaced it.

The problem is Jason doesn’t have enough Energy yet. When the tip of the single line, which his pinky alone had multiple of, could fill the space up with threads. To replace every line in his body and still have Energy left over to use his skills is going to take a lot. He sighs as he realizes that means actually training his Energy. Until now, he had been doing just fine with whatever the System awarded him with.

Before he can make any plans of what to do, dinner is ready. Gregor comes back into the den with a big pot of soup. Behind him held by his tails are enough bowls and spoons for everyone. Once he has set everything down, the kitsune gestures towards the candle Courtney has been staring at. The flame wavers and then goes out, breaking Courtney out of her meditation.

She shakes her head and looks around. When Courtney notices that food is being set out, she picks up the shell and yawns. “Is that lunch or dinner?” With another yawn, she forms an illusionary ball and tosses it at Rosha.

The ball bounces off Rosha’s head and disappears, but this is enough for her to wake up. She rubs her eyes and sits up. After looking around she asks, “Dinner already? Feels like I just fell asleep.”

Courtney rolls her eyes, “Well, that answers my question at least. I guess you had a fun time training?”

Rosha laughs, “I can hear the sarcasm dripping off that fun. But I have to say, it was interesting. Now what’s for dinner?”

Gregor gestures toward the pot, “A traditional shared dish. Soup made with newly sprouted bamboo shoots, onions, a few other vegetables, micropig meat, and herbs. Mostly it is traditional because if there is one thing we have a lot of, it is bamboo and micropigs.”

Rosha frowns, “What are micropigs?”

Peter laughs, “A monster you will hunt later. Not because they are tough, but because they live up to their name. About the size of your palm, they form swarms in the fields outside of the city. At least that is where the meat for our soup comes from. There are of course citified micropigs, but you wouldn’t want to eat them. They taste like their diet, trash.”

Akhier

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